Remembering and imagining: Women's nostalgic engagement with vintage fashion

Nostalgia has become an important cultural phenomenon. Predicated on the notion of loss and alienation from the present, and a longing for a past (that can never be realised), nostalgia can be described as an imaginative return to a former, often idealised, time. The appeal of vintage fashion includes a fascination with the imperfection that comes with the aging process, the unique 'one of a kind' exclusivity and 'authenticity' involved in wearing items that are not mainstream or readily available, as well as the charm of imagined past histories, stories, and identities that accompany vintage garments. Vintage clothing presents women with creative opportunities for self- representation and expression of identity, imaginatively connecting past and present, and invoking various forms of mediated memory. As a theoretical study, this research draws from literature across disciplines, including culture and media studies, fashion, and feminism. It explores the use of vintage fashion as a nostalgic expression that responds to a sense of loss (alienation) that women experience in current mainstream westernised fashion, and it precipitates an attraction to the past. The paper critically assesses vintage fashion for its potential to reconstruct women's 'situatedness' - enabling them, as agents, to nostalgically manipulate and advance self- representation and identity expression through creative 'remembering' and imagining.